Everything Zen.
Middleton, WI
Northside Elementary/ St. Francis Xavier Orioles
Favorite food: Fried chicken
Favorite animal: ANIMAL!!!
Renowned for his Zen-like resolve on the pitching rubber and ability to shake off walks and whatever sort of defensive tomfoolery happens behind him, Zen Master Rowe is the Sea Kittens’ staff ace- claiming a career winning percentage of 0.633 (50-29). His 523 2/3 innings pitched are also tops in franchise history. He is a rare breed: a gentlemanly pitcher in a brute’s game.
Rowe debuted May 18, 2011, rapping a triple in his first at-bat and scoring one out later to give the Cats a 1-0 lead in what would become a 22-3 loss to Pedro’s, but he kept coming back and is #3 on the Sea Kitten’s all-time games played list. Upon Doc Kornis’ retirement at the end of the 2011 season, Rowe slid into the Sea Kitten Rotation in 2012, pitching the then Harmony-sponsored Sea Kittens to a 21-6 win over Team Leah in his first start, May 16, 2012. He posted a 3-1 record that season. The Zen Master also secured the win July 23, 2014, the night Los Gatitos ended The Schneid, and since that night has posted a 21-10 mark while pitching.
The Zen Master held the team’s single-season hit record from 2012-2016 and the team’s runs scored record from 2012-2013. He’s the only Sea Kitten to ever play 11 games in a single summer season.
Never afraid to take an extra base, Rowe is the Cats’ unquestioned champion of the hustle double, but Boom Boom Magyera long-noted that Rowe never homered, inside-the-park or over the fence… until the opening night of the Spring 2022 season, when Rowe dashed to his first career quadruple!
Rowe scuffled a bit during Summer, 2019, but bounced back with an outrageous fall campaign in which he made only a single out in 15 at-bats and counted four doubles and a triple among his 14 hits.
The Zen Master’s earliest/ favorite baseball memory is the 1982 World Series, aside form the Brew Crew loss. His favorite moment on the diamond was being called an asshole by Sherri, starting pitcher for SYB, Rowe’s arch-rival, and perhaps the yin to his yang, pitching-demeanor wise. The thing he finds most annoying on the diamond are pitchers who can’t get the ball close to the plate, but expect you to swing…
